Means for transporting and delivering powdered material



Feb. 21, 19339 w. 1.. FICKEY 1,893,354

MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING AND DELIVERING POWDERED MATERIAL Filed July 28.1930 Patented Feb. 21, 1933 UNITED STATES L. FICKEY, OF SIOUX CITY, IOWAMEANS FOR rmsronrme AN D DELIVERING POWDEBED MATERIAL Application filed.Inly 28, 1930. Serial No. 471,253.-

The principal object of this invention is to provide a device forcarrying owdered material such as comminuted coal rom a central point orreduction plant to outlying points where it is used.

A further object is to provide a means that will not only transportpowdered material but one that will deliver the material to a receivinbin at location of use with dispatch and e ciency.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a means that willtransport and deliver powdered material such as powdered coal withoutany loss of the material during transit or delivery at receiving end.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a powdered materialtransporting means that is capable of delivering the transportedmaterial in not readily accessible places at the receiving point.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a means fortransporting and delivering powdered coal that is economical inmanufacture and durable in use.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claimsand illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional View of the powdered material holding tankand more fully illustrates its interior construction.

Fig. 3 is a top plan sectional view showing the spider holding the lowerend portion of the outlet pipe in proper position in the bottom portionof the tank.

The present method of furnishing powdered fuel and the like to points ofuse is to place the fuel in sacks at the plant or central location, haulthe filled sacks to the purchaser or user, and then empty the sacks inthe hopper or bin of the purchaser or user. This procedure has manydisadvanta es, principally due to the fuel itself as its eness andlightness makes it very susceptible to mixing with the atmosphere whichinvariably takes place when the sack is opened and the contents shakenout into the bin. This means not only a waste of material but thesoiling of property in the vicinity. Furthermore the sacks must be ofalmost air tight construction such as paper sacks. When a sack becomestorn which often happens, much valuable material is lost. Also the sacksare an economic loss. This method of transportation and delivery ofpowdered material is very dirty and tiresome to the workmen and muchvaluable and costly time is experienced. I have overcome all theseobjections as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

I have used the numeral 10 to generally deslgnate an automotive vehiclehaving the usual wheels 11. Mounted on this vehicle is my powderedmaterial holding tank 12 having its bottom tapering downwardly as shownin Fig. 2. The numeral 13 designates a neck on top of the tankcommunicating with the inside of the same and having a peripheral flange14: at its rim. I have used the numeral 15 to designate a bracket havingits. two hooked ends capable of engaging the underside of the flange 14and extending over the top of the neck 13. Threaded through the centralportion ofthis bracket is a rod 15 having swlvelled onits lower end thelid 17 capable of closing the top of the neck 13. The numeral 18designates. a hand wheel rigidly secured to the top of the threaded rod16 to facilitate its manual rotation. By this construction when thewheel is rotated to the left the bracket 15 carrying the rod 16 and thelid 17 will be removed from the neck 13. To replace this portion of thedevice on' the neck 13 it is merely necessary-to place the two hookedends of the bracket under the flange 14. and rotate the hand wheel 18 tothe right which will force the lid 17 tightly on top of the neck 13 andrigidly secure the bracket 15 to the neck 13. The lid 17 and neck 13should be of such fit one to the other that when the lid is tighteneddownwardly on the neck it will hermetically seal the tank 12. It isthrough this neck 13 that the powdered material is inserted in bulkcondition. The

numeral 19 designates the powdered material outlet pipe extending intothe tank 12 and terminating near its bottom as shown in Fig. 2 andhaving its dead center bottom portion flattened as at 12. The lower endportion of this pipe is held in pro r position near the dead centerbottom ortion 12 of the tank by the spider 20 which as its outer endssecured to the tank 12 by a suitable means.

Interimposed in the pipe 19 at a point outside of the tank 12 is amanually operated valve 21 shown in conventional form. Formed on theupper and outer end of the pipe 19 is the usual screw hose connection 22designed to receive in the usual manner one end of a flexible hose 23which when not in use may be rolled on a reel 24 mounted on the vehicleas shown in Fig. 1. The numeral 25 designates a small air compressoroperated by an electric motor 26, both of which are shownin'conventional form and mounted on the vehicle 10. The electric motor26 may receive its source of electrical energy from the storage batteror generator of the motor of the vehicle or, i desired, the aircompressor 25 may be run by the internal combustion motor of the vehicleitself. The numeral 27 designates a ipe on top of the tank 12 and havingone 0 its ends communicating with the inside of the tank 12. On theother end of the pipe 27 is an ordinary air pressure gauge 28 shown inconventional form. The numeral 29 designates a pipe or like having oneend communicating with the air compressor 25 and its other endcommunicating with the inside of the pipe 27. Interimposed in this pipe29 is a manually operated valve 30 shown in conventional form.

The practical operation of the invention is as follows: The powderedmaterial to be transported and delivered is placed in the tank 12 at thecentral or coal reduction plant through the neck 13. Any desired amountof material may be deposited in the tank 12 but the tank 12 should notbe completely filled with the powdered material.

In other words an air space should exist in the top of the tank 12 afterthe powdered fuel has been placed therein. After the powdered materialhas been placed in the tank 12 the neck should be hermetically closed bythe lid 17. The hand valve 21 should be in a closed position and thehand valve 30 in an open condition. The compressor 25 should then beactuated which will create a pressure tank 12 and above the powderedmaterial therein. This pressure inside be sufficient to expel thepowdered material, and is designated by the pressure gauge 28. Aftersuitable pressure exists in the tank 12 the compressor 25 should bestopped and the hand operated valve 30 closed. After the vehicle 10 hastransported the powdered material to the location or locations of use,the hose 23 is unwound from the reel 24 and one of its ends screwed intothe connection 22. The 0 posite end of the hose 23 will naturally be tlie discharge end and it should be inserted into the hopper or bin toreceive the powdered material. By the use of'a flexible hoseout-of-the-way places such as basements and the like become readilyaccessible due to the fact that the flexible hose may be passed througha window or like and ma e any number of turns before it reaches itsdestination. By opening the valve 21 the air pressure above the powderedfuel will cause it to pass up and through the pipe 19 and into andthrough the hose 23 to the receiving hopper or bin. As will be notedsuch a method of transporting and delivering powdered fuel will be veryquick, clean, economical, without loss of material, and require littleeffort on the part of the operator. To stop the flow of the powderedfuel through the pipe 19 it is merely necessary to close the valve 21.

If the pressure inside the tank becomes too low to properly force thepowdered fuel through the pipe 19, it is merely necessary to start thecompressor 25. By the bottom of the tank 12 being tapered practicallyall of the powdered fuel in the tank 12 may be removed.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arran ement of myimproved means for transporting and delivering powdered material withoutdeparting from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is myintention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or useof mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within theirscope.

I claim:

1. Means for handling and delivering packable but substantiallyimpervious-to-air material such as powdered coal from a source of supplyto a place of use without pollution of the surrounding atmosphere at anytime and comprising,-a tank having a restricted horizontal bottom and aclosure-controlled ing opening above the bottom, a valvecontrolledmaterial discharge pipe having its inlet adjacent and substantiallyperpendicular to said tank bottom, and means for applying a head ofpressure to the top of the material within the tank whereby to flow thematerial out through said pipe without a carrying vehicle therefor.

cans for handling and delivering packable but substantiallyimpervious-to-air material such as powdered coal from a source of supplyto a lace of use without pollution of the surroun ing atmosphere, andcompris- 1ng,-a tank having a plane and restricted horizontal bottom anda closure-controlled filling openin above said bottom, a sectionalmaterial disc arge pipe comprising separable sections, one section beingwithin and carried by an up er wall ortion of the tank and having its inet end a jacent to and perdicular to such bottom, and tank-carriedmeansfor applying a head of air pressure to said tank above the materialtherein whereby to flow the material out through said pipe without acarrying vehicle therefor, the plane surfaced tank bottom and theadjacent perpendicularly disposed outlet pipe section provlding 'anantipacking flowing I means.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2,- and the other section of saidoutlet pipe being detachable from the first named section exteriorly ofthe tank, and an exterior base extension projecting from said tankproviding a support for said second-mentioned pipe section.

WARD L. FICKEY.

